I genuinely miss the smart-ass, cocky, and confident Spurrier. Yea, he busted our chops, but at least he was a man about it. Whining about schedules and ESPN attempting to turn a profit is just pathetic.

Agreed. When Bobo,Edwards and Ward teamed up to spank the Gators the OBC was very candid and owned up with “Georgia is just a better team than us.” I was disappointed in the whine meme of strength of schedule in 2012. Now that uSC has probably the weakest schedule in the SEC I imagine he will be much more reserved.

Confession of pettiness: Yesterday I had a libation with friends at a not-so-local waterhole. There on the screen was USC’s Pro Day with Barksalot running cones (he fell down). I commented to my friends about USC’s obvious popularity with ESPN and how they had pushed Barkless for Heisman beyond reason, revealing their obvious prejudice for that program and the QB. Since Barfalot made them look stupid last year, ESPN has come back to be exonerated by USC’s Pro Day. At that moment in my comments, Barklay fell. My hoot of “I told you so!” was shortlived when they lined Barklie up in a chair alongside his parents to be interviewed. It was all so hoity-toity that I asked them to change the channel.

My thoughts go to Jarvis Jones at this time and the inequity of his time in the spotlight to up his draft status as ESPN was blatantly doing for USC and their QB. Hope Spurrier disembowels them if he gets a chance. I agree with his remarks and hope we join in the chorus. “Heispeeing” is beyond insufferable.

I must say that I completely agree with the OBC for pointing out how disparate and slanted ESPN’s coverage of different programs has become. This issue to me is not draft stock of exiting players, but how this additional publicity affects recruiting.

This is all a direct result of the functional monopoly that ESPN enjoys because of the $5/month guarantee it gets from every cable TV subscriber. This allows ESPN to completely ignore the wants of the viewing public and advance an agenda based on what ESPN management wants instead of what the market dictates. Anti-competitive behavior at its absolute finest.

I’m no fan of ESPN’s editorial and/or management decisions, but do you understand how tv networks make money? They make money by drawing viewers, especially viewers in a desireable demographic for advertisers.

If you ever meet any more soulless, cash register where their hearts should be located types than network execs, let me know. The suits at ESPN dont care about anything but what lets them make the most money. They dont sign contracts with conferences out of fandom, a desire to be loved, personal preferences, or anything other than “this deal will make us the most money.” If they were at Southern Cal’s pro day and not Spurrier’s, it wasn’t about anything other than money. SoCal was likely to generate more of it, so off to LA they go.

if you dont think the suits at ESPN are smart, check the bank accounts and capital improvements they’ve acquired the last 20 years. They probably crunch more data and analyze trends as well as any outfit in private enterprise. They’d ditch the SEC for lava surfing or competitive eating, if that drew more and more valuable viewers.

You bet! Now they have contracted to show our games and I certainly don’t like the prospect that we will be the “also served” at their CFB Banquet. Their unashamed favoritism for certain schools and against others actually has a resultant hurtful affect on better players from not-so-favorite programs (see Manti Teo vs Jarvis Jones, Barkley vs Murray for proof). That’s just plain wrong and should be discouraged by all.

What you describe above 81 applies to network TV. ESPN is a cable network subsidized by getting $5+ per month from every cable subscriber. In the pre-cable days if a network acted like ESPN does the viewers could collectively change channels, the ratings would reflect it, advertisers would not buy time (or pay less for it) and the network would be forced to change its behavior or go broke–the market at work. ESPN does not have to respond to such market forces because it makes most of its money from the monthly subscription payments. When/if the government busts up the subscriber payment racket by forcing cable systems to allow customers to pick all the stations they want as part of their personal packages then ESPN will have to be responsive to the wants of viewers. There has been a bill in Congress for years which would accomplish that but ESPN and other cable channels that benefit from the current system have managed to keep it bottled up by using lobbyists essentially undermining free market economics.

Cojones seems to have turned the tide of comments from loathing TOBC to hating ESPN. I don’t care for either entity…but on this one I have to say I’d side with Spurrier (if you put a gun to my head and made me choose). But when you stack the USCalif market against the USCackalacky market, it’s understandable if not excuseable. I actually like the threat he made. USC, ND and a few other darlings of the media will always get the attention, but the SEC will usually get revenge.
BTW..I’m still amazed, considering the way Georgia just manhandled GT, that the nerds beat USC. That boy Junior is a real up-and-comer!

Spurrier also made fun of Clemson in the same interview with Josh Kendall:

He even took a little jab at Clemson by telling reporters that other football staffs had come in to learn about the Gamecocks’ system, but added: “We don’t brag about it like some people.”
Early this week, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told media the Atlanta Falcons had come to Clemson to learn about the zone read and how to defend it.